crankyspice writes: Having recently picked up the Erector set I've wanted since I was a kid, I quickly found myself wanting to plunge deeper into makerspace by adding more sophisticated electronics to moving devices (rovers, maybe eventually flying bots). My first instinct was Arduino (maybe because of brand recognition?), but that got me thinking — what's the "best" platform out there (most flexible)? Arduino with its myriad options (Nano, Mega, Uno, Mini)? PICAXE? BASIC Stamp? Raspberry Pi? (The latter seems like it would easily be the most flexible, but at greater cost in terms of weight and complexity.) I'm a hobbyist programmer, having learned C and C++ in college and recently re-learning Java (took and passed the Oracle Certified Professional exam, FWIW)...

You took the time to learn versatile programming languages, are not put off by complexity, and would eventually like to tackle flight. Maximize your chances of success with the most powerful computing platform your budget and skills can deal with. Rasberry pi, or one of the newer platforms being written about such as micro form factor PC boards, etc. I'm a bit unsure of the names of the newer stuff but you will see them all mentioned here sooner or later. When you get seriously into flight, you will want go

I've come to Arduino from the other side, from the raw microcontrollers, and I know I can choose whether to use a "short time to deploy" arduino, or a hardcore ad-hoc microcontroller configuration. If you want to dig deeper into electronics probably arduino is the most complete in term of accessories (shields) and the most documented by the least wise, meaning that someone with less knowledge will find it easier to understand. You'll get to a point, you'll find the "roof" of Arduino, but when that time come